David Wants to Build a Temple

7 After King David moved into his new house the Lord gave him peace from all of his enemies around him. ²King David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a fancy house made of cedar wood, but God’s Holy Box* is still kept in a tent! {We should build a nice building for the Holy Box.}” ³Nathan said to King David, “Do whatever you want to do. The Lord will be with you.” ⁴But that night, the Lord’s word came to Nathan. The Lord said, ⁵“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the person to build a house for me to live in. ⁶I did not live in a house at the time I took the Israelites out of Egypt. No, I traveled around in a tent. I used the tent for my home. ⁷I never told any of the family groups of Israel to build me a fancy house made from cedar wood.’ ⁸“You must say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I chose you while you were out in the pasture following the sheep. I took you from that job and made you the leader of my people, the Israelites. ⁹I have been with you every place you went. I have defeated your enemies for you. I will make you one of the most famous people on earth. ^10–11And I chose a place for my people, the Israelites. I planted the Israelites—I gave them their own place to live. I did that so they will not have to move from place to place any more. In the past, I sent judges to lead my people of Israel. But evil people gave them many troubles. That will not happen now. I am giving you peace from all of your enemies. I promise that I will make your family a family of kings.* ¹²“When your life is finished, you will die and be buried with your ancestors. But then I will make one of your own children become the king. ¹³He will build a house (temple) for my name. And I will make his kingdom strong forever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he will be my son.* When he sins, I will use other people to punish him. They will be my whips. ¹⁵But I will never stop loving him. I will continue to be loyal to him. I took away my love and kindness from Saul. I pushed Saul away when I turned to you. {I will not do that to your family.} ¹⁶Your family of kings will continue—you can depend on that! For you, your kingdom will continue forever! Your throne (kingdom) will stand forever!” ¹⁷Nathan told David about that vision.* He told David everything God had said.

David Prays to God

¹⁸Then King David went in and sat in front of the Lord. David said, “Lord, my Master, why am I so important to you? Why is my family important? Why have you made me so important? ¹⁹I am nothing but a servant. {And you have been so kind to me.} But you have also said these kind things about my future family. Lord, my Master, you don’t always talk like this to people, do you? ²⁰How can I continue talking to you? Lord, my Master, you know that I am only a servant. ²¹You will do all these wonderful things because you said you would do them and because you want to do them. And you decided to let me know about all these things. ²²Lord, my Master, that is why you are so great! There is no one like you. There is no god except you! {We know that} because of what we ourselves have heard {about the things you did}. ²³“And there is no nation on earth like your people, the people of Israel. They are a special people. {They were slaves,} but you took them out of Egypt and made them free. You made them your people. You did great and wonderful things for the Israelites. You did wonderful things for your land. ²⁴You made the people of Israel your very own people forever. And Lord, you became their God. ²⁵“Now, Lord God, you promised to do things for me, your servant, and for my family. Now please do the things you promised—make my family a family of kings forever! ²⁶Then your name will be honored forever. People will say, ‘The Lord God All-Powerful rules Israel! And may the family of your servant David continue to be strong in serving you.’ ²⁷“You, Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, have shown things to me. You said, ‘I will make your family great.’ That is why I, your servant, decided to pray this prayer to you. ²⁸Lord my Master, you are God. And I can trust the things you say. And you said that these good things will happen to me, your servant. ²⁹Now, please, bless my family. Let them stand before you {and serve you} forever. Lord my Master, you yourself said these things. You yourself blessed my family with a blessing that will continue forever.”

Holy Box The Box of the Agreement. Also called “The Ark of the Covenant,” the box containing the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them and the other things that proved God was with the people of Israel during their time in the Sinai Desert. make … family of kings Literally, “make a house for you.” father, and he will be my son God “adopted” the kings from David’s family, and they became his “sons”. See Ps. 2:7. vision Like a dream. God gave messages to his special people by letting them see and hear things in visions.

David Wins Many Wars

8 Later, David defeated the Philistines. The Philistine capital city had controlled a large area of land. David took control of that land. ²David also defeated the people of Moab. At that time he forced them to lie on the ground. Then he used a rope to separate them into rows. Two rows of men were killed, but the whole third row was allowed to live. In that way, the people of Moab became servants of David. They paid tribute* to him. ³Hadadezer son of Rehob was king of Zobah. David defeated Hadadezer when David went to take control* of the area near the Euphrates River. ⁴David took 1,700 horse soldiers and 20,000 foot soldiers from Hadadezer. David crippled all but 100 of the chariot horses.* ⁵Arameans from Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah. But David defeated those 22,000 Arameans. ⁶Then David put groups of soldiers in Damascus, Aram. The Arameans became David’s servants and brought tribute.* The Lord gave victory to David in every place he went. ⁷David took the gold shields that had belonged to Hadadezer’s servants. David took those shields and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸David also took many, many things made of bronze from Tebah* and Berothai. (Tebah and Berothai were cities that had belonged to Hadadezer.) ⁹Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated Hadadezer’s whole army. ¹⁰So Toi sent his son Joram to King David. Joram greeted David and blessed him because David had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him. (Hadadezer had fought wars against Toi before.) Joram brought things made of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹¹David took these things and dedicated* them to the Lord. He put them with the other things that he dedicated to the Lord. David had taken those things from the nations that he had defeated. ¹²David defeated Aram, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek. David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³David defeated 18,000 Arameans in Salt Valley. He was famous when he came home. ¹⁴David put groups of soldiers in Edom. He put these groups of soldiers through all the land of Edom. All the people of Edom became servants of David. The Lord gave victory to David every place he went.

David’s Rule

¹⁵David ruled over all of Israel. And David made good and fair decisions for all of his people. ¹⁶Joab son of Zeruiah was the captain over the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the historian. ¹⁷Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests. Seraiah was secretary. ¹⁸Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the Kerethites and Pelethites.* And David’s sons were important leaders.*

tribute Money that a people gave to a king that defeated them. take control Literally, “set up his marker.” Kings often set up stone markers to show they had won a war or conquered a certain place. David crippled … horses Or, “David destroyed all but 100 chariots.” Tebah The Hebrew has, “Betah.” See 1 Chron. 18:8. dedicated To give for a special use. Kerethites and Pelethites These were David’s special bodyguards. An ancient Aramaic translation has “the archers and stonethrowers.” This would mean these men were specially trained in using bows and arrows and slings. important leaders Literally, “priests.”

David Is Kind to Saul’s Family

9 David asked, “Is there any person still left in Saul’s family? I want to show kindness to this person. I want to do it for Jonathan.” ²There was a servant named Ziba from Saul’s family. David’s servants called Ziba to David. King David said to Ziba, “Are you Ziba?” Ziba said, “Yes, I am your servant Ziba.” ³The king said, “Is there any person left in Saul’s family? I want to show God’s kindness to this person.” Ziba said to King David, “Jonathan has a son still living. He is crippled in both feet.” ⁴The king said to Ziba, “Where is this son?” Ziba said to the king, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” ⁵Then King David sent some of his officers to Lo Debar to bring Jonathan’s son from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. ⁶Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth came to David, and bowed with his face low to the floor. David said, “Mephibosheth?” Mephibosheth said, “Yes sir, it is I, your servant Mephibosheth.” ⁷David said to Mephibosheth, “Don’t be afraid. I will be kind to you. I will do this because of your father Jonathan. I will give back to you all of the land of your grandfather Saul. And you will always be able to eat at my table.” ⁸Mephibosheth bowed to David again. Mephibosheth said, “I am no better than a dead dog, but you are being very kind to me.” ⁹Then King David called Saul’s servant Ziba. David said to Ziba, “I have given Saul’s family and everything he owns to your master’s grandson (Mephibosheth). ¹⁰You will farm the land for Mephibosheth. Your sons and servants will do this for Mephibosheth. You will harvest the crops. Then your master’s grandson (Mephibosheth) will have plenty of food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will always be able to eat at my table.” Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. ¹¹Ziba said to King David, “I am your servant. I will do everything that my lord the king commands.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. ¹²Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All the people in Ziba’s family became Mephibosheth’s servants. ¹³Mephibosheth was crippled in both feet. Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem. Every day Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table.

Hanun Shames David’s Men

10 Later {Nahash} king of the Ammonites died. His son Hanun became the new king after him. ²David said, “Nahash was kind to me. So I will be kind to his son Hanun.” So David sent his officers to comfort Hanun about his father’s death. So David’s officers went to the land of the Ammonites. ³But the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, their lord, “Do you think that David is trying to honor your father by sending some men to comfort you? No! David sent these men to secretly study and learn things about your city. They plan to make war against you.” ⁴So Hanun took David’s officers and shaved off one half of their beards. He cut their clothes in the middle down to their hips. Then he sent them away. ⁵When the people told David, he sent {messengers} to meet his officers. He did this because these men were very ashamed. King David said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards grow again. Then come back {to Jerusalem}.”

War Against the Ammonites

⁶The Ammonites saw that they had become David’s enemies. So the Ammonites hired Arameans from Beth Rehob and Zobah. There were 20,000 Aramean foot soldiers. The Ammonites also hired the king of Maacah with 1,000 men and 12,000 men from Tob. ⁷David heard about this. So he sent Joab and the whole army of powerful men. ⁸The Ammonites came out and got ready for the battle. They stood at the city gate. The Arameans from Zobah and Rehob, and the men from Tob and Maacah did not stand together with the Ammonites in the field. ⁹Joab saw that there were enemies in front of him and behind him. So Joab chose some of the best Israelite soldiers and lined them up for battle against the Arameans. ¹⁰Then Joab gave the other men to his brother Abishai to lead against the Ammonites. ¹¹Joab said {to Abishai}, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, you will help me. If the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you. ¹²Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides is right.” ¹³Then Joab and his men attacked the Arameans. The Arameans ran away from Joab and his men. ¹⁴The Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away, so they ran away from Abishai and went back to {their} city. So Joab came back from {the battle with} the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem.

The Arameans Decide to Fight Again

¹⁵The Arameans saw that the Israelites had defeated them. So they came together {into one big army}. ¹⁶Hadadezer* sent messengers to bring the Arameans that lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. These Arameans came to Helam. Their leader was Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer’s army. ¹⁷David heard about this. So he gathered all of the Israelites together. They crossed over the Jordan River and went to Helam. There the Arameans prepared for battle and attacked. ¹⁸But {David defeated the Arameans, and} the Arameans ran away from the Israelites. David killed 700 chariot drivers and 40,000 horse soldiers. David also killed Shobach the captain of the Aramean army. ¹⁹The kings that served Hadadezer* saw that the Israelites had defeated them. So they made peace with the Israelites and became their servants. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites again.

Hadadezer The ancient Greek has Hadarezer.